You would think that people with disabilities would be treated as equals with so called able bodied people but recent events have shown the exact opposite is the truth.

The UK, USA and Europe have laws to protect travellers with disabilities but something is going wrong in Europe if our experience is anything to go by.

You may think this doesn't affect you but no one can predict their future health needs.

Air travel for people with disabilities is governed by laws and regulations designed to ensure safe, dignified, and accessible transportation

Source. caa.co.uk

We recently had to do a quick flight home from Europe as the heatwave was having a detrimental effect on my wife's health. She is disabled and cannot walk more than a few yards literally.

Try booking a flight, hotel or anything and two things happen.

Booking a hotel shows hundreds of vacancies. Change to booking as a disabled person and the choices evaporate to near zero and prices rocket up.

Dignity

Booking assistance at an airport is just as infuriating.
They treat you like a package that has to be shipped rather than a person paying good money for their 'services'.

The Saga Begins

We only managed to get a flight from Zurich to London City Airport because we paid for business class seats. 3x the economy price and 4x the price of easyJet.

We drove two hours from France to Switzerland to catch the flight.

It was cancelled

I spoke to British Airways and they tried to get me to fly to Heathrow Airport which is a very long way out of London and not what I'd paid for. Plus over £100 for a taxi home.

After an hour of absolute bullshit from BA they got us on the next flight to London City Airport the next day.

So now we are stuck in Zurich wondering who to complain to.

I spoke to Zurich Airport passenger desk and they offered us a hotel just by the airport. Which was brilliant.

I recorded the video below to remember the hotel name.

Apparently the Swiss have this arrangement that if your flight is cancelled they give you a hotel and bill the offending airline afterwards.

I've never experienced this before so is it a thing now?

The hotel was fine and we got breakfast thrown in.

The Airport Runaround

The next day we were at the airport bright and early...lucky we were.

We had asked for wheelchair assistance at Zurich Airport and no one showed up.

We went to the help desk and they were about as helpful as a fart in a spacesuit.

They wanted Linda to sit in the wheelchair in what was literally an open pen, roped off like some kind of livestock.

We looked at the flight departure board and saw we were at gate 58 right at the end of that picture above. So off we trundled with me pushing the wheelchair dangling the carry on baggage.

We got to gate 58. Sat there for 30 minutes and was then told to go to gate 53.

Another long walk later we arrived at gate 53 only to be told that there had been a schedule mixup and we had to get to gate 22...a train ride away.

We found the train after finding the lift to get down to it. Wheelchairs and stairs don't work.

Finally we got to gate 22.

With all the running around we had eaten up almost 2 hours trying to get to the right gate.

Now I'm no spring chicken and all the legwork buggered my muscles for a couple of days.

Just before boarding guess who turns up? Airport Assistance! and he had a stinking attitude telling me that he had been searching for us all over the place.

I didn't believe a word he said. He was a surly cus and in my younger days I would have cleaned his clock.

Being the calm individual I am today I told to pick up the bags and get us out of here.

Boarding time

Now you might think this is unusual. All this chaos just trying to get to the right gate but it's not. This is just another example where AI is going nuts. The departure board was a complete fiction.

So what do you get when you fly business class.

See below my short and pithy assessment of airports today. I last flew to Lisbon Hivefest 2017 and I still haven't recovered my costs.

That Ryanair flight was literally a cattle truck in the sky. Turned me off flying until now and we only took this recent flight to avoid an emergency cas-evac.

Finally we got to London City Airport after a pleasant and uneventful 90 minute flight.

The London staff couldn't be more helpful and professional. They got us off the plane with a lift which was brilliant.

Key takeaway. Europe is way behind schedule when it comes to caring for people with disabilities.

We had a disastrous trip to Venice 2 years ago and we should have learned our lesson then. The gondoliers ran when they say us coming seriously. I kid you not.

The UK isn't perfect but it's head and shoulders above anything we've seen in Europe and I love Europe but it's way behind the times.

Pools that say they are mobilty friendly when they are not.

Rooms that are supposed to be wheelchair accessible but are not.

It makes me wonder who is checking out these companies? Certainly not the governing authorities.

P.S.

I'm loving the @ecency front end with it's video integration. If it works this'll be my new main app.

NB I couldn't say these things on any other social media platform as it would be instantly demonetized if not banned entirely as its not considered advertiser friendly.

What about consumers rights?

Who speaks for us?

This is what hive gives us. True freedom of speech.

This is hives true power.

5% Of this posts rewards go to Ecency. Remember to support the services you use and the communities you enjoy!

Source: @melinda0010100

Thanks Melinda 👍

[//]:# (!worldmappin 47.46175 lat 8.55080 long Took an urgent flight to London d3scr)